Late in the afternoon, with the sun already on its last leg.
DUGSHHH
The bus door opened and out came Patty, coming home from school after a boring 30 minute bus ride–so much better than walking, he thought to himself.
His house was a small building compared to the towering apartments that squished it in between. There was no green lawn and no white picket fence–just a sidewalk and a lonely red fire hydrant just a few steps away from his front door. This part of town had a bigger population, which meant that real estate was treated like gold. This wasn't the suburbs.
The house was unpainted, just cemented walls. Outsiders could still see the brush strokes of the builders still indented on walls that should have been covered up by paint or redone in a different design.
It had just one door and one window from the front that peeked directly into the living room/bedroom/kitchen. There was no second floor, no patio, no guard rails, just a plain triangular brick roof.
This was a bachelor pad. A place that could only ever house a maximum of one person. Just the way he liked it.
Just a few more steps and he can enter a paradise of his own, where if he wanted to eat something, he just needed to walk a few steps away from the bed and to the refrigerator–a paradise where the couch is his bed, and the bed his couch–a paradise where he could still hear the television loud and clear even in the bathroom. And most importantly, cleaning was a breeze. Literally. He would just use a blower to sweep the dust and debris directly outside his house.
He was finally away from Prof Ortez and his lectures. If it weren't for the principal, he would still be sitting in that room with his ears ringing from an annoying voice.
He would surely hear another lecture tomorrow, so he needed to relax. And his home was all he needed.
It was his own kingdom where he decided the rules and regulations. And what was that rule? Be lazy.
Just as he was about to open the door, someone called out to him.
"Patty, catch!"
He turned around and saw a boy, a few years younger than him, strolling in his bicycle with a basket full of newspapers. The boy waved a roll of newspaper around his head a few times until he expertly threw it directly towards Patty.
"Thanks," he replied as he tried to catch the paper.
Unfortunately, his hand was just a few inches away from catching the paper and his reaction time was an entire half second too late. The paper hit his chest and fell to the ground. It seemed his instincts were as lazy as himself.
"Caught it," he said.
Feeling too lazy to bend down and get the newspaper, Patty simply used his feet to unfurl the paper until it revealed the front page. His eyes quickly became disinterested even before he read the full scoop.
The whole newspaper was dedicated to the advertisements of local organizations trying to recruit students for their internship program.
A local butcher shop guaranteed that their would-be intern would get a Money Teqx that had a high probability of being a cuisine-related skill. An idol company gave auditions to those talented and artistic enough to be put in the spotlight and gain a Fame Teqx. Many jobs and professions tried to use every trick in the book to entice any and everyone to participate in the chance to join their organization.
Bleh, Patty inwardly vomited. These internships were hard work, and hard work only. Even if you persisted through years of internships, it wasn't guaranteed that you'll receive a Teqx.
Patty would rather burn in lava. He wanted nothing more than to spend his life doing nothing, even if it meant achieving nothing.
He trampled on the newspaper and walked through the door. The familiar messy bed, water-soaked dirty dishes, and junk food wrappers littered on the floor greeted his return.
"Ahh, home."
He walked five steps and immediately fell chest first to the mattress with no bed frame. He closed his eyes for a few seconds while rummaging around his red bedsheets for the remote.
The colorful light of the television lit up the otherwise dim room. Without moving his body, he smoothly turned his head to get a view of the tv just as he had done a million times before.
He was just in time for his favorite animation program. It was about a teenage space officer patrolling the universe for justice. It was your average power fantasy animation, something he dearly loved and would not want to miss because he was too busy with school work.
At last, there was no more talk about internships, Teqx, and the future. Detention and Prof Ortez was far away from him now and couldn't disturb his peace.
"We interrupt this program for a special word from our favorite hero, Ju Stice"
A teenager with brown spiky hair donning his iconic blue, red, yellow, and black space captain uniform came on the scene. He took off his spacebowl helmet and revealed a somber look.
"Spacers and landers alike. I come to you for a favor…"
As long as I can do it without leaving the house, Patty thought.
"I would like you to…"
Tune in for more shows? Buy my merch? Answer a survey?
"Please sign up for the upcoming Track and Field competition at your local school for a chance at getting a Power Teqx in your hands and most importantly…getting a chance to meet me. Remember cadets, there are only a limited amount of Teqx in the universe. It isn't like meteors hehe."
Patty's jaw dropped. "Et tu, Jute?"
Ju Stice walked away from the captain's chair of the SS PEACE and showed a montage of profiles in the holographic view screen.
"This is brought to you by the teachers and professors that care."
As soon as the picture of a man with impeccably combed and gelled hair with a stern expression came on the screen, Patty immediately turned off the tv.
"Curse you, Prof Ortez!"
It looked like not even his comfort show was safe from the internship fever seemingly spread across the galaxy.
He was so upset about it that he needed a refill on his energy. He got up from his bed with a groan, walked five steps, and arrived at the kitchen.
There were no pots and pans, for he didn't bother cooking. He would rather have poultry and pizza pedaled and delivered, which he seasoned with a bit of pepper which some might consider unbecoming.
The only "cooking" machine he used religiously was the blender. Like some athletes, he would mix whatever he wanted to eat, meat and fruit alike, into a slushy juice that would save them from using precious energy to chew their food.
Just as he was about to make another orange chicken slush…
RING RING
Patty took his cellphone and saw that Sam was calling. Tsk, he thought. If Sam wasn't his best friend, he wouldn't even bother hearing the ring.
"What's up?"
"Listen before you say no–"
"No."
"Just listen. There's a study group here in school that is in dire need of participants. You don't even have to do anything. Just show up."
"No."
"Listen. This is a great opportunity for you. Any student that joins today will get extra credit in Professor Wraithborne's class. You remember that there's a physicality test this upcoming week, right? Knowing you, you will probably skip the physical test. You need this, or else you'll get a failing class in your record."
"Yes, I remember that there's a phys test this week. And no I don't."
"Dude. this will be in your permanent record. Orgs will take one look at your resume and see a failing grade and immediately disqualify you from your internship. Don't you want a decent Teqx?"
BRRRR, said the blender
"Sorry, the call is breaking up."
"Wait! It's just a two minute walk from your house. Two minute walk."
Patty sighed. He knew that Sam had good intentions, but he simply didn't want to spend his nights or mornings going to a pointless study group, when he neither wanted to study nor wanted to be in a group.
"Listen," Patty said. "If I wanted to change my lifestyle, I would have grasped that thing right in front of my face. It was right there. I just had to flex my fingers and I would have acquired a skill that I could use to change my circumstances and be in a better position. But I didn't. I don't want to."
The phone was silent for a second. "What are you even saying?"
"Nothing. It's just an inside joke." Patty replied.
"Just show up. It's just a two minute walk—" Sam stopped talking and sighed. "I forgot who I was talking to. You are Patty, the king of laziness, who would rather take a 30 minute bus ride rather than take a 2 minute walk."
Patty's house was only a two minute walk from school. However, Patty, the lazy bum that he was, always took the 30 minute bus ride which circled the entire town before coming back to the center of the town. He was that lazy.
His excuse for this was that he was not wasting those 30 minutes, because he was watching internet videos on his phone, listening to music, and relaxing to the soothing sight of the sun setting down in the backdrop of the town.
The phone call ended as Sam no longer wanted to deal with Patty's unreasonable stubbornness to be lazy.
Patty looked down on his phone and thought about his conversation with his best friend. He thought back to Prof Ortez's lecture. He thought back to the newspaper full of advertisements. He thought back to the interrupted animation on television.
The whole town–no, the whole world seemed to be engulfed in this desire to prepare for their future. He was sure that not only his best friend, but also his other classmates were doing something or anything that would guarantee them a better future. But what was he doing? Nothing.
Everything was reminding him that he was the only one stagnating. The television wasn't safe. The newspaper was littered with advertisements. His best friend was spending nights in a study group. If he went on the internet, he was sure that there was nothing but news of internships and opportunities.
With nothing to do, Patty decided to lay in bed and look at the starry night. There was a small part of the roof that was made out of glass. Patty could gaze at this small window to the sky and just stare at the twinkling stars and the luminescent moon. It always seemed to take his thoughts away from him.
This was his way to relax.
But it seemed today was destined to be full of tension as Patty saw a fiery red ball of rock that was falling down from the sky. Compared to the calm and dark blue sky, the disruption made by this foreign object was clear to see.
It was a meteor.
And unlike most meteors that would end up burning in the atmosphere as it entered the Earth, this one seemed to get bigger and bigger as it fell down into the atmosphere.
"Is this the end of the world?" Patty thought.
This meteor seemed even bigger than the one that was supposed to have wiped out the dragons.
Faced with this imminent extinction, most people would think to call their loved ones or wallow in despair. Most people would try to run away from this meteor, even if they knew that their actions would be futile. Even if this meteor fell on the other side of the world, the thermal explosion from the impact would scorch the entire world. People would feel the full range of emotions as they faced death.
And Patty? He felt nothing. If he died right now, he wouldn't care. If death was inevitable, there was no use in doing anything else. If this was his last breath, he wouldn't spend it on anything useless like running away.
He would relax, like he was doing right now.
Patty watched as the meteor became bigger and bigger, flying through the sky leaving a trail of scorched air behind it.
But then something weird happened. The meteor turned. It looked like a homing missile that finally found its target and completely turned 90 degrees. And where was it now headed? Directly towards Patty.
That wasn't the weirdest part. The meteor was supposed to be getting bigger and bigger. But as it continued its descent towards Patty, it seemed to get smaller and smaller. At this point, Patty got off his bed to get a closer look at this weird phenomenon. If this was a missile, then there was no use in running away.
As it reached the final hundred meters away from Patty, he finally got a closer look at this supposed missile.
It definitely wasn't a missile because it had a spherical shape. And its color wasn't red at all. It only looked that way because of the fire that surrounded it from entering the Earth's atmosphere at a tremendous speed. The true color of this object was black.
This was a ball of black with seemingly golden swirls inside it. If it had a different color, Patty would have mistaken it for a Teqx.
"You have got to be kidding me. Who said Teqx doesn't fall through the sky! It happened to me twice–"
Those were his last words as the black object crashed through the glass roof, shattering it into a million pieces as it landed directly on Patty's heart.